U.S. Court Authorizes First Use of John Doe Summonses on Behalf of Foreign Government

On July 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that federal courts in Minnesota, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Virginia, and California have issued orders authorizing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to serve John Doe summonses on certain U.S. banks and financial institutions, seeking information about persons who have used specific credit or debit cards in Norway.  The summonses are known as “John Doe” summonses because the IRS does not know the identity of the person being investigated.  Orders have been entered in seven of the cases while the U.S. government’s petitions in three additional cases are pending.[1]